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487041
Wed, 04/04/2018 - 11:19
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First unit of Akkuyu NPP to go operational 2023, by Turkey’s 100th anniversary - Putin

ANKARA, April 3. /TASS/. The first unit of Turkey’s nuclear power plant Akkuyu will go operational in 2023 by the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the inauguration ceremony on the construction site of what would become the NPP’s first reactor. "We are to cope with an ambitious task of putting the first unit in operation in 2023 and to time the event for the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and I have agreed we will do everything to this end," Putin said. He expressed the certainty that "joint smooth work by Russian and Turkish specialists will allow for implementing all plans on time and the successful implementation of this project will become one of the symbols of steady onward development of Russian-Turkish cooperation, partnership and friendship." The Akkuyu nuclear power plant’s four 1,200-megawatt water-pressurized reactors VVER-1200 will be built in Mersin Province on the Mediterranean. Russia and Turkey concluded the contract back in May 2010. The project is entirely Russia-financed. In the summer of 2017 Russia’s nuclear power concern Rosatom agreed to sell a 49% stake in the project company responsible for implementing the Akkuyu NPP project to the consortium Cengiz-Kolin-Kalyon. Originally, the contract on their participation was to be concluded by the end of 2017, but at the beginning of 2018 Kolin and Kalyon suspended the talks. Rosatom then entered into negotiations with a pool of alternative investors, including the public energy company Euas. Talks are in progress with Cengiz on its participation, too. Rosatom chief Aleksey Likhachyov does not rule out the deal to sell the 49%-stake in Akkuyu may be completed next year. Read more

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